He uses the paradigm of
nuclear hormone receptor activation / signaling and the contribution of this process to myeloid cell differentiation, function, and to diseases, involving these cells, such as atherosclerosis, tissue regeneration, metabolic, and various inflammatory disorders, as his model systems.
Shay hypothesizes that the ellagic acid and other chemicals bind to these PPAR - alpha and PPAR -
gamma nuclear hormone receptors, causing them to switch on the genes that trigger the metabolism of dietary fat and glucose.
They later showed that RORA,
a nuclear hormone receptor that functions as a transcription factor, can potentially regulate the transcription of more than 2,500 genes, including over 400 genes already associated with autism.
PPARs are members of
the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily of transcription factors.
These transcription factors include signal transducers and activators of transcription,
nuclear hormone receptors, Smad3, and the ubiquitous transcription factor Sp1.